Indian engineers are toiling in the Himalayas to build the world’s highest railway bridge which is expected to be 35 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower when completed by 2016.<\/p>\n
The arch-shaped steel structure is being constructed over the Chenab River to link sections of the spectacular mountainous region of India’s northern Jammu and Kashmir state.<\/p>\n
The bridge is expected to be 359 metres (1,177 feet) high when completed — surpassing the world’s current tallest railway bridge over the Beipanjiang River in China’s Guizhou province, which stands at 275 metres high.<\/p>\n
“It is an engineering marvel. We hope to get this bridge ready by December 2016,” a senior Indian Railways official told AFP.<\/p>\n
“The design would ensure that it withstands seismic activities and high wind speeds,” he said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Work on the bridge started in 2002 but safety and feasibility concerns, including the area’s strong winds, saw the project halted in 2008 before being green-lighted again two years later.<\/p>\n
The estimated cost of the project, which is being handled by Konkan Railway Corporation, a subsidiary of state-owned Indian Railways, is $92 million.<\/p>\n
The bridge will connect Baramulla to Jammu in the Himalayan state with a travel time of six-and-a-half hours, almost half the time it currently takes.<\/p>\n
The main arch is being erected using two cable cranes attached on either side of the river which are secured on enormous steel pylons, according to engineers of the project.<\/p>\n
The 1,315-metre long bridge will use up to 25,000 tonnes of steel with some material being transported by helicopters due to the tough terrain, they said.<\/p>\n
“One of the biggest challenges involved was constructing the bridge without obstructing the flow of the river,” the railways official said.<\/p>\n
“Approach roads had to be constructed to reach the foundations of the bridge,” he added.<\/p>\n